Memphis Suggestions for Places to Go to See, Eat and Drink
BB King's
Gus’s for chicken behind Pearl's
Aldo’s for pizza & cheesecake
Rizzo’s, the chef has been on the Food Network
Peabody’s for Ice Cream
Pearl’s, great for steak & seafood
We spent almost two hours there; not because it was so large, but it was so enjoyable to listen to the development of Soul and Rock. Could have stayed longer, but we had our tour scheduled.
Memphis Mojo BackbeatTour
A ninety minute tour complete with a musician or comedian as our guide to the history of this town…It was an entertaining way to hear about this charming southern town. Ron did a wonderful job informing and entertaining us as we toured this lovely river town. We all got to participate with percussion instruments like shakers and tamborines...I easily taped into my Hippie days...
 |
| Ashley our darling bartender...she serves a mean Frozen Whiskey Lemonade!!! Brain Freeze time! |
Here’s some of what we learned…
Lansky’s Department store was originally more popular with the well dressed blacks, but entertainers like Elvis liked the looks of their clothes as well; thus the name, Clothier to the Stars.
Peobody Hotel is the Grand Hotel of the South...the pampered ducks are escorted at 11 o' clock by the Duckmaster to the Peobody's beautiful fountain or at 5 o'clock to their fancy penthouse in the hotel. We sat at the bar to listen to the Duckmaster's corny duck jokes and a bit of the history of the Peobody Hotel's ducks. Their Old Fashions, the 1925 Art Deco hotel and the excited crowd made for a fun time.
Cotton was the major industry hence the name Cotton is King,. Proud Mary, the song came about from the name of one of the famous cotton boats.
During the Civil War there was only one naval battle that lasted about an hour & half. So, their city was one of the few that thrived during the War of Northern Aggression.
 |
| Mid Island great place to see entertainment in a large amphitheater |
 |
| If you look to your left a bit you can see the Mid Island Amphitheater |
Cannon Center for Performing Arts. Another large arts performance venue. The original place was Ellis Auditorium, where one could hear foot stomping gospel that was the precursor to rock and roll. Those performances, when Elvis could get into hear them; really influenced Elvis music.
St Jude’s Children Hospital Danny Thomas’ Monument to St Jude. They turn no one away!!! A number of the Dr have won Nobel prizes from that hospital. They have a 90+ percentage survival rate for children admitted there.
Overton Park was Elvis first big venue. The Levitt Shell outdoor amphitheater there was the first rock and roll performance.
Elvis opened for Slim Whitman, a famous yodeler/country singer. He was mistakenly billed as Ellis, so people thought he was a girl. Elvis came out in front of this very white, conservative audience in eye makeup dressed like a black man in one of Lansky’s suits. No one knew what to expect including him! He played “That’s Alright Mama” and the crowd went wild which was a real first!!! They wanted an encore, so he and his band played the only two songs they knew over and over again.
Here is what Elvis looked like for his first appearance
Along Beale Street you will find these notes in the sidewalk...
 |
Backbeat's Tours' Ron providing background and entertainment
Graceland shot from the wall surrounding it
Can’t believe I forgot Mike’s Graceland photo. We just stopped at the brick/stone wall outside. Didn’t want to pay $41 each to see 1960’s gaudy. We weren’t ambitious enough to get there by 8:30 AM to go through the Meditation Gardens which you can do for free from 7:30-8:30 AM. Elvis is buried there with his family members.
|
Carl Perkins, singer, songwriter, wrote his famous Blue Suede Shoes, with coal on an ole tater sack. Considered the first "mongrel hit" which was later referred to as "rock and roll."
Jerry Lee Lewis was kicked out of seminary for playing devil’s music on the piano. Started out; as Carl Perkins piano player. Great Balls of Fire was his first hit. He married his 13 year old cousin which led to lots of controversy. You think???
Overton Sq is a real cool part of town. In addition to the park with Levitt Shell, the Memphis Art Museum and Zoo can be found there along with Ardent Studios.
Thanks to the success of Sun Records, lots of mom and pop record studios sprang up, but only two Stax and Hi were successful. Hi recorded Bruno Mars Uptown Funk here
Central Gardens is a neighborhood of beautiful homes built from 1900-20’s where Johnny Cash lived with his first wife in a rented apt of a house. Even Machine Gun Kelly lived there for a time before he ended up in Alcatraz
 |
| Lydia, our darling enthusiastic tour guide |
 |
| Originally Taylor's Cafe but now Sun's |
 |
| The Control Room still used today |
 |
| Sam Phillips with some of his 1950's state of the art recording equipment |
Sun Studios
Sun Record Studios 1952 started by Sam Phillips, before that he was producing and selling the records and rights for his artists. He was determined to record the blues sound and make it popular. He didn't see color, so it was a welcoming place and his partner Marion made it downright homey.
Elvis was first in his family to graduate from HS. All his spare time he listened and practiced his music when he wasn't doing his daily delivery job. Met Marion, Sam's partner who recorded his first song, “My Happiness”. She asked him who he sounded like and his famous reply was, “Mam, I don’t sound like nobody.”
Sun Studio is considered the Birthplace of Rock and Roll with Ike Turner's Kings of Rhythm recording of Rocket 88
Next door to Sun Studio was Taylor Restaurant. It had AC, so they would go over there to cool off. Elvis started singing a blues song and dancing around as he did so. Sam excitedly recorded “That’s All Right” and as soon as the record was pressed ran it over to his buddy, DJ Daddy O Dewey Phillips on July 8, 1954. Kids keep requesting it. So, Sam Phillips signed Elvis for 3 yrs. However, after 17 month they had produced 10 songs with most of them hits. Sam Phillips sold Elvis contract to RCA because he knew they could do more to further Elvis career. The $35,000 enabled him to promote other artists like Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison and such. Since Johnny couldn’t afford a drummer, Cash wove a dollar bill through strings at the neck of his guitar to make a snare drum like sound that you hear on some of his songs.
Johnny Cash, headlined for Elvis, sang Folsom Prison. Cash started out picking cotton as an Arkansas kid and learning lots of gospel music in those fields. I Walk the Line was one of his early songs. Luther Perkins main lead guitarist for Johnny Cash, but he also wrote songs and produced with him as well.
In 1959 Sam Phillips moved to Phillip Studios where it still is today. He sold Sun Records to a guy in Nashville and it still exists there.
In 1987 current owners purchased and restarted the original Sun studio. Lots of famous current artists still record here. Everything is original in the museum. You can even photograph yourself with the original mic that all of them used. Sam gifted it to the museum before he died with the stipulation that people could touch it.
During the day it's a museum that you can visit. At night it turns back into a recording studio with the likes of Beck, Bono, Marchbox 20, Liz Phair, and many more...recording there.
Oddly enough, Howling Wolf, Sam Phillips felt was his best discovery. Sam Phillips eventually started the Holiday Inn chain with a partner.
The Peobody Hotel Duckmaster getting his show ready
 |
The flowers are real and get changed every 4-5 days
 |
They get changed out for new ones every three months so they can go back to the outside
After visiting the Peabody Ducks, we decided to walk to the old Majestic Grill for our final Memphis meal. I watched some of the old 1959 black and white movie, Some Like it Hot, on their big screen, that dominates the central part of the restaurant. The food, service and atmosphere was
outstanding.
Who can remember who were in the cast of this famous movie?
We caught the trolley back to our hotel and I was able to give our favorite trolley conductor a hug goodbye. The convention center that is connected to our hotel was hosting their 8th Anime Convention. We headed to the hotel's bar for a final drink and to watch the attendees cosplay (dress up in all kinds of anime characters.) Some of them were borderline scandalous, and the rest outlandish, but it was a fun show to watch. Everyone seemed to be having a good time and their antics certainly kept us amused.
There is so much more here to see and do...we would have loved to see the pandas at the zoo and the art museum but we ran out of time and energy.
 |
The Taproom with Three Chickens and a Biscuit
Here is a bit of their sound
|
Here is what Elvis looked like for his first appearance
Bet you all didn't know I was one of the backup dancers, in my dreams...
STAX and SUN were far ahead of the times mixing blacks and whites together to create art.
The Peobody Hotel Duckmaster getting his show ready
No comments:
Post a Comment